Brazil to propose new social agenda for the G20 -minister

Brazil will propose adding a civil society wing to the G20 group of the world's largest economies when it takes over as president next week, to add the voices of society to summit meetings, a Brazilian minister said on Monday. Messages from society to the G20 leaders have mainly come through street protests, sometimes violent ones, but they rarely make it to the negotiation table. Since it was first created in 1999 as a platform of finance ministers and central bank governors to counter the effects of the Asian financial crisis, the G20 has added discussion groups on subjects from business, labor, women and youth issues, but their input has been limited to round tables.